Netherlands 5 Sweden 1
Match of the tournament so far? The Dutch got off to the perfect start just 5 minutes in as Cody Gakpo fired the ball across the box for Brian Brobbey who sild across and opened his World Cup account for the Netherlands, he soon doubled the Netherland’s lead in the 17th minute with a similar goal as Denzel Dumfries played the ball across this time for Brobbey who yet again slid in and scored to put the Dutch 2-0 up. Sweden did have chances on the break through Gyokeres and Isak but couldn’t convert as half-time approached with the Netherlands 2-0 up, it didn’t take long for the Dutch to add another after half-time as Dumfries yet again played a low cross into the box this time for Cody Gakpo who was on hand to put the Netherlands 3-0 up in the 47th minute. They would soon make it 4-0 as half-time substitute Crysencio Summerville drove towards the Sweden backline laying the ball off to Cody Gakpo on the edge of the box who fired towards the near-post past Nordfeldt to almost certainly finish the game in the 54th minute, Sweden did pull one back in the 59th minute as Anthony Elanga sped past the Dutch backline and lifted the ball past Verbruggen to make the score line look a bit tidier for Sweden. That was until the 89th minute when the Netherlands added another as Summerville again drove towards the Sweden backline but this time fired a low shot past Nordfeldt to make it 5-1 and secure a brilliant win for the Netherlands against Sweden.
That’s more like it from the Dutch. I was quite harsh on the Netherland’s performance against Japan last week but it’s because I know how strong this team is when they are at their best and we saw that today, Koeman made one change in the team bringing Brobbey in for Summerville which before kick-off looked like a strange decision but we saw why in the first goal with Brobbey holding the ball up brilliantly and sprinting into the box to get his goal which we didn’t see when Malen played up top against Japan. Koeman saw a clear weakness in the Sweden backline and targeted the wing-backs getting cross after cross in which led to 3 out of the 5 Netherland’s goals with Dumfries notching 2 assists from right-back, Cody Gakpo yet again delivers in a Dutch shirt after his breakout tournament in 2022 and he’s just so reliable in that frontline every game which probably has Liverpool fans quite puzzled after the season he’s had for them but he really is a quality player when used right. Whilst the backline did look strong they easily could have conceded 2 or 3 today if Sweden were more clinical but I suppose it’s going to be hard to keep Gyokeres and Isak quiet for 90 minutes so that’s understandable, overall an absolutely brilliant performance from the Netherlands which should give them huge confidence for the rest of the tournament.
A quick reality check for Sweden. After the Tunisia game last week I wasn’t surprised to see Swedish fans getting excited about how far they could go in this World Cup but they quickly got brought back down to Earth today, clearly the Brian Brobbey selection surprised Graham Potter as the Sunderland striker bullied Sweden’s three centre-backs all game who had no answers for his hold-up play which was absolutely brilliant all game. I do actually think Sweden looked dangerous for a lot of the game on the counter but a lot of the chances fell to the wrong players in particular Yasin Ayari who had a horrific game in front of goal taking five shots but only getting one on target, Isak and Gyokeres linked up a number of times but were only really had half-chances to score against a strong Dutch backline. Sweden’s real problem is in the midfield where their lack of real athleticism was clear to see up against a Netherland’s midfield of De Jong-Gravenberch-Reijnders who ran past them a number times which would have been worrying for Graham Potter, unfortunately for Sweden their goal-difference has now equalled out after losing to the same score they beat Tunisia with so they’ll most likely need at least a point against Japan to make sure of qualifying for the Round of 32. Not ideal and they’ll have to be much better than they were today to get at least a point, can Sweden worry a strong Japan side?
Do the Dutch have enough to win the World Cup? If you look at the two performances so far they couldn’t be more different to each other, against Japan they were so pedestrian moving the ball ridiculously slow whilst conceding two soft goals in the second half that cost them the win. Today they moved the ball with pace which caused Sweden massive problems at the back with the addition of Brian Brobbey who you’d imagine has done enough to probably start the rest of the tournament, I think Summerville will probably start on the right as well in place of Malen who unfortunately hasn’t brought his club form to the World Cup thus far. From what we’ve seen so far I think the Dutch are as good as any but I still don’t think Ronald Koeman is the right man for the job, I do hope he proves me wrong as I quite like this Netherlands team. Do you think the Dutch can all the way in this tournament? I think they just might.
What does this mean for the group? This result means that the Netherlands are top of the group for the time being with Japan facing Tunisia later on tonight needing to win by 5 or more goals to go top of the group heading into the last game next week, Sweden’s good work against Tunisia last week has been eroded away so they go back to 0 goal difference and will need a point against Japan to make sure of qualification. 3 points could be enough but it would make for a nervy last few days hoping other teams don’t go above them in the 3rd place table, a win against Japan takes them to 2nd though so they should be aiming for that next week. Sweden vs Japan should make for a great game, here’s hoping it delivers.